The Mirwais Regional Hospital (aka Chinese Hospital) was build in 1974 by the Chinese government and it began operation with 250 beds in 1979 as a general hospital for Kandahar and neighboring Uruzgan, Zabul, and Helmand provinces. Due to an increase in the number of conflict-related victims in the region in 1996, the Afghan Ministry of Health and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) signed an agreement to extend the surgery part to a Surgical Center for war victims. From 1996 up to now (2013), particularly over the past 10 years, the Mirwais hospital in Kandahar is the most important center for war and trauma surgery in southern Afghanistan. Due to increase in number of patients, another 150 beds have been set up and now the facility has more than 400 beds. It also has several sections including internal, dental, pediatric and malnutrition, maternal department as well as lab and radiology sections. Besides China, the hospital has also been supported by the ICRC, a Japanese non-governmental agency and several European states over the past ten years.